The VLW Blog

Harrisonburg city treasurer Rebecca Neal is under indictment for alleged fraud. She faces a petition to have her removed from office. Just this week, an employee of her office sued her for alleged harassment. But apparently Neal is not hiding or giving up. Her lawyer has fired back with a demurrer claiming the petition to [...]

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Even the most even-tempered judge knows. Sometimes the lawyers in your courtroom are just going to yank your chain. But a judge can be too quick to pull the trigger on a summary contempt citation under Va. Code § 18.2-456, as the Court of Appeals points out in Scialdone v. Commonwealth, decided yesterday. In a [...]

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Two vastly different stories emerge from the pleadings in a Newport News federal lawsuit where a woman claims she was refused service at an IHOP restaurant, according to the Virginia Gazette.

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The Supreme Court of Virginia has granted a rehearing petition in the case of the country’s first felony spam conviction. As explained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the issue is whether Virginia’s anti-spam law is unconstitutional on its face.

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The nomination of Virginia Supreme Court Justice Steven Agee to the federal appeals bench has turned into a political football as U.S. senators wage their long-running battle over judicial nominations. Despite the wrangling, however, there is no suggestion that the prospects for Agee’s confirmation are threatened. The skirmishing plays out against a background of political [...]

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Roanoke Circuit Judge Swanson noted today that Chris Clemens was appointed to the district court bench by a “majority” of the circuit court judges. The Roanoke Times has more on the impact of the decision on Clemens’ law office and his role as member of the Salem City Council. Having given up his offices as [...]

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The General Assembly earlier this week elected judges for many of the open seats across the commonwealth. One of the positions that remained vacant after Wednesday was a general district judgeship in Roanoke County. Judge Julian Raney retired at the end of December. Local legislators were deadlocked between Roanoke Commonwealth’s Attorney Donald Caldwell and Salem [...]

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The General Assembly elected 22 judges late yesterday but failed to fill vacancies on the State Corporation Commission and in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Hampton and Roanoke. Court of Appeals Judges Robert J. Humphreys and Jean Harrison Clements won reappointments, and the other elections were for vacancies in circuit, general district and juvenile and domestic relations [...]

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The nexus between debt and divorce has occupied the Virginia Court of Appeals this week. In a published opinion out of Hanover County, the appellate court said in Marvin v. Marvin that a husband’s debt of attorney’s fees to wife in her proceeding charging violations of a court visitation order could not be discharged in [...]

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A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that the illegality of a search under Virginia law does not require the suppression of evidence seized during the search. Writing for the court in Virginia v. Moore, Justice Antonin Scalia said in that the high court long has held that probable cause to arrest justifies a search. [...]

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